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1) Get a ten gallon aquarium. Get LOTS of plastic or live plants. You can also use lengths of yarn tied together. (I have never used a divider) Gravel is best left out of the breeding tank. Stuff all of the plants on one side of the tank. Get a yellow piece of thin plastic (like a plastic bag). Cut this into a circle about the size of a grapefruit and place this on the other side of the tank. I use a heater and try to keep the temp around the high seventies to eighty. DO NOT use aeration in the tank as this disturbs the male's bubble nest.
2) Start with SEVERAL pairs. Chances are one or more of the males or females will be TSTB. (see definitions) When you buy the fish look for the most active ones and those with the widest (not longest) fins( wide fins are usually a sign that the fish has been in good health). When you buy the males hold their jars together and see which one has the most fighting spirit. This can often be the most important part to getting a sucessful spawn -chosing the right male. Usually the more agressive they are the better your chances. Bubble nests in the jars are not necessarily a good sign. Don't buy a male just because he is the best color but you do need to consider what you're going to want to see in your fry.
3)Once you have your fish you need to take good care of them and condition them to spawn. This means good food- blood worms freeze dried brine shrimp etc. Live food works really well. I used to take my bettas out and feed them small earthworms. They also adore mosquito larvae(When you breed in the summer and spring, just leave a jar outside and wait for the mosquitos to lay eggs in the jar and then feed them to your bettas.) It also means good water conditions if they are jarred they will need frequent water changes. Anyway take good care of the bettas for a while and after a few days-a week pick out your "Ideal pair" and put them in the spawn setup I described in #1. Hopefully within three days or so they will spawn but, even if they don't spawn within that period of time you might want to leave them together for a week or more. Sometimes it takes a while for the feamle to 'get in the mood'
4) Watch them to see how they react to one another (add the male and female to the spawning tank at roughly the same time.) The male flares up ( Just as he would do for another male)He displays to her for a little bit but often begins to chase her immediately. He will lunge antd try to nip her. Don't worry this is normal. Betta courtship can often be a rather rough affair. The Female's 'correct' reaction is to change her horizontal stripes to vertical stripes and turn darker in color. This may not happen immediately and is not evident on light-bodied females. When the feamle comes out of hiding the male will then usually chase her rapidly and she will hide in the plant clumps. This sort of behavior will continue for several hours or days. The male will build his bubble nest while the female hides. She will come out periodically and usually be chased away. After some time the female will decide she is ready and come out. She will display a head down fins clamped s-shaped swim. It may take a couple tries for the male to get the message but they will swim together toward the bubble nest and begin the embraces. Embraces are when the male and female swim in a circle touching one another's sides. The female flips upside-down while the male curls over her. Then they seem to suddenly 'lock' in place. (all of this takes place under the bubblenest) It may take many tries for them to get this right. Large females can be difficult for the male to work with so be aware of your pair's relative size. After the embrace they will seem to be stunned the male will usually wake up first and will try to catch any falling eggs. The first several embraces may be eggless so don't freak out if you don't see eggs falling immediately. The embraced pair may fall or float when they are 'out'. The female will awaken in a few more seconds and will often begin to scan the bottom for eggs. Sometimes she will take several minutes to look every inch of the tank over. Then the male and female will come back together, she will display her s-shapes swim and the embraces will start again. ( this may last from an hour to several hours) You can tell spawning is complete when the male chases away the female if she tries to approach.
5) There are an almost infinite number of ways for this process to go wrong. Sometimes the male will flee from the female if she becomes aggressive. Watch their initial reactions! If the male cowers or the female acts as if she is going to fight him (gill flaring etc.) you may want to switch females. If the male refuses to build a bubble nest or is indifferent to the female you may want to switch males. Don't necessarily switch fish at the first sign of trouble. Every time you switch the whole courtship ritual must begin again. So be wary of switching but if the female starts to beat up the male this is a sure sign that it's not going o work Sometimes the pair cannot react to one another correctly. The male can be overly aggressive and not recognize her submissive s-swim. They may also not be able to embrace correctly. However all of these problems are not overly frequent and spawns often occur in much less than ideal conditions so don't be afraid to try. Just remember that breeding bettas requires a combination of luck and patience. If it doesn't go right the first time just try again.
6) After the above occurs, remove the female from the tank and the male will tend the eggs. After about 24-48 hrs (depending on temperature) the eggs will hatch and if you look closely you will see their tails hanging down out of the bubbles. The male will catch any that fall from the nest and spit them back up into it. After about two or three days, the fry will become free swimming and you can remove the male.
7)Caring for the fry.
Now that you've gotten past all of the breeding part, you've got these teeny-tiny little fish and you're going to have to feed them. One of the best first foods is BBS There are other foods but live food is best as fry are attracted to movement. You can buy brine shrimp eggs at a fish store. Get an air pump and hook up some tubing to a quart to several gallon container of salt water. The exact salinity measurements are usually on the egg's packaging. Throw in about a teaspoon of eggs per quart of water. Buy a brine shrimp net dip it in solution a couple of times rinse with fresh water and serve to the fry. Keep this up until the fry are about two to three mos old and you can try to wean them on to other foods such as flake food. You can raise them to adulthood on this diet.
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Last Modified February 11,1998
Page designed and maintained by Sarah Kinder